In the first of a series of posts, Bwog Staffer Joanna takes you on a journalistic journey through the cultural superstitions held by the diverse students of Columbia. 

My mom’s still convinced that the only reason I managed to get into Columbia was because my application ID was a string of 3, 6, and 9’s, all of which are considered very lucky in China. Thanks for the confidence boost, Mom, but I guess she can’t help it. In China, numbers are a big deal. How they are pronounced in Chinese determines their “luck”. For example, 8 is pronounced Ba, which is similar to Fa meaning wealth, therefore it’s deemed as a lucky number. In fact, I’ve seen people with strings of 8’s on their car license plates. Meanwhile, 4, pronounced Si is the same as the word “death”, so people avoid it as much as possible. Unfortunately, I live on the 14th floor, so I guess my entire floor is doomed. Aside from numbers, my parents always make me eat noodles on my birthday because it means longevity. During the Chinese New Year, I would wear red and set off fireworks (if the law allows it) to ward off the evil spirits and welcome prosperity for the new year.

But the Chinese culture isn’t the only one with superstitions. With students from so many different cultural backgrounds, there’s bound to be some interesting ones.

Jess Bunnag – Thailand

“In general, Thai culture is a mixture of Chinese and Indian culture. Especially for my family, my grandfather is Chinese so we celebrate a lot of Chinese culture. During Chinese New Year, my grandma wouldn’t let me say rude words because it’s bad luck to begin the new year. Also, we’re not supposed to step onto the raised door stop at temples, you have to step over it. In my family, we care a lot about the levels of our bodies. For example, my mom doesn’t like it when I raise my pants above my head since it’s for the lower body regions. I don’t like to point with my feet, although that’s more because it’s rude. We also can’t talk about our dreams during meals. For a lot of these superstitions I don’t really know the reason behind them because we’re not allowed to ask.”

Rekik Demeke – Ethiopia

“In my culture, you’re not supposed to mention bad things such as death. For dreams, there’s differing opinions. Some people think that if you tell someone about your bad dream, it will happen to you while others think that if you don’t tell, it will happen. But there’s an overall consensus that dreams are very powerful. In some regions, there’s the belief that some people have the evil eye, so to protect themselves from the evil eye, people would make lucky charms made of spices. That superstition is fading, though. On the religious side, dogs are not allowed to enter Christian churches because they are considered impure. Ethiopia has many ethnic groups so I know I’m not covering everything. Overall, these superstitions haven’t really affected my life here because my parents aren’t very superstitious so it doesn’t have much impact on me.”

Ojaswee Rajbhandary – Nepal

“One superstition that comes up almost everyday is that you’re not allowed to give someone an uneven number of servings. For example, if you give someone one spoon of rice, you’re supposed to give someone another spoon or else it’s bad luck. I do that all the time. Even when I want one spoon, I’d get a few more grains of rice for a second spoon. You also shouldn’t whistle at night because it’s asking for the devil. When you step over a book or over someone’s legs, it means that you put yourself at a higher position than them and that can be disrespectful. I would tap the book to my head or apologize to whoever I step over. Also apparently it’s a thing that if you dream of fishes you’ll be rich. Stepping over a broom will also bring you bad luck and stepping on pillows will bring bad dreams. For one night of the year, you’re supposed to sleep with metal because it’s the night of the witches. I usually sleep with a bobby pin in my hair.”

That’s it for this week! Tune in next week for more superstitions.